Baltimore Officer Shoots Knife-Wielding Man At Child's Party
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A Baltimore police officer shot and killed a man wielding a knife, the second officer-involved shooting in the city in a three-day span, police said.
The officer was on routine patrol Saturday night when he responded for people yelling for help outside a house in southwest Baltimore, Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said. The officer was told that a man inside the home, where relatives had gathered to celebrate a 3-year-old's birthday, was threatening people with a large butcher knife, Rodriguez said.
The man refused to drop the knife when confronted by the officer, who fired one shot that struck the man in the chest, Rodriguez said. The man later died at a hospital. The officer, whose name had not been released by midday Sunday, has been with the department for 2 years, said Rodriguez, who described his actions as "courageous." The officer "definitely fired in immediate defense of his life," Rodriguez said.
On Thursday, police said a man was wounded during a "violent struggle" with an officer, who fired her weapon. The man shot in that case was still being treated at a hospital on Saturday.
The officer involved in that shooting was identified as 32-year-old Angel Richardson. She has been with the department since 2013 and has not shot anyone previously, police said.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
